Pic was seen in the paddock chatting and laughing away with Caterham in Singapore. He'll most likely to be in the team nest year.

His family is wealthy and influential, and close to the Renault Group, so maybe Caterham could use him as leverage to closer ties with Renault.

As for Petrov, his manager's jibe at Tony seems to indicate the party is over. He'll move on to another project.

As for lack of spares and new parts, I'm not sure other teams share the same opinion, unless there are special cases. For Caterham in particular, they have a habit
of this for reasons only they know. Possibly lack of resources ?

Before the Singapore race Mark Smith gave an interview. Seems like there won't be any big upgrade packages coming for Caterham this season, but they'll nevertheless keep on developing the car until the last race, since the next year's car will be direct evolution from this year's car.

Smith says the headcount in Caterham F1 is now 200-250. I wonder how many people Toro Rosso, Force India and Marussia are currently employing? Caterham uses Williams's second wind tunnel and they will also soon have a much improved CFD facility in Leafield, but do they have enough experienced staff and skilled engineers of John Iley's caliber to raise their game and challenge the midfield in 2013?

People close to the French company say the joint venture has been agreed in outline with both sides to own equal stakes and cars likely to be produced under both the Caterham and Renault names.

The deal is understood to have been slated to be announced at last week’s Paris Motor Show, but is now due to be presented to Renault-Nissan’s works council on Monday before being announced in the coming weeks.

Giedo van der Garde has already told a month ago that he will be back in the Caterham cockpit for the Free Practice 1 sessions in Japan, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil, and he'll also have two days in the Young Driver test. So nothing new there.

Today Heikki Kovalainen told the Finnish F1 broadcaster MTV3 that he had a good meeting with Tony and the team in Singapore. All the problems that had been developing between Kovalainen's manager and the team were resolved once Heikki got personally involved in the negotiations, and the situation is now OK.

Heikki tells he isn't currently involved in any serious negotiations about his future with other teams. Caterham has assured him that the team will continue to improve, and that has been Heikki's main concern in thinking about his future in F1.

While Heikki is considering his options which is not too bright, his manager tries to milk as much out of the team as possible. His late involvement with the negotiations was probably
a "stop gap" in case he fails to secure any other "worthwhile" seats. Honestly, I fail to see any where else for him.

I also think he desperately wants out.

On the other hand, the other teams look at him either not good enough, or having no money.

While Heikki is considering his options which is not too bright, his manager tries to milk as much out of the team as possible. His late involvement with the negotiations was probably a "stop gap" in case he fails to secure any other "worthwhile" seats. Honestly, I fail to see any where else for him.

I also think he desperately wants out.

On the other hand, the other teams look at him either not good enough, or having no money.

I think Heikki needs Caterham more than the opposite.
I know the team likes Heikki and would like to keep him, but there are good alternatives available at the same level.
I can't really see any other teams then the bottom three or maybe Williams having a seat for Heikki.
The Toro Rosso seats are reserved for Red Bull drivers.
Force India will likely keep it's drivers.
Sauber has an available seat, but I think they will be looking for younger drivers.

I would actually like to see Adrian Sutil back in F1 with Caterham next year.

I think Heikki needs Caterham more than the opposite.I know the team likes Heikki and would like to keep him, but there are good alternatives available at the same level.I can't really see any other teams then the bottom three or maybe Williams having a seat for Heikki.The Toro Rosso seats are reserved for Red Bull drivers.Force India will likely keep it's drivers.Sauber has an available seat, but I think they will be looking for younger drivers.

I would actually like to see Adrian Sutil back in F1 with Caterham next year.

Donno

The last season the team dumped Gazza, and now see what happened? Now Heikki and keep on dreaming?

I'd like to see Heikki stay at the team, but it might make more sense for the team to bring on Pic & van der Garde, if both can bring sponsorhip. Neither driver is a slouch, and Fernandes' goal of organic growth needs money and time to develop infrastructure and technical expertise. Heikki's experience might not be as useful as sponsorship dollars at this point.

It is all not fair/ Vitaly is driving bettter than Kovalainen this year, and he will bring sponsorship, maybe not so much next year, but Kovalainen will not bring any. And Vitaly is not asking for a large salary. It is all down to Tony's personal relations with Heikki...Very sad

It is all not fair/ Vitaly is driving bettter than Kovalainen this year, and he will bring sponsorship, maybe not so much next year, but Kovalainen will not bring any. And Vitaly is not asking for a large salary. It is all down to Tony's personal relations with Heikki...Very sad

That's obviously your personal opinion. But the team has much more data to evaluate the drivers than us casual fans, so they know better which driver deserves to stay -- should it be the case that one of them has to go. I don't believe for a moment that they'd keep a driver just because he happens to be a nice chap.

KERS failure for Petrov apparently, though he seemed to be catching both Marussias before Pic retired and Petrov fell off the road. Still a pretty lacklustre race (certainly for Vitaly); really hope that there are still a few good races left for the team this year.